Catching up from Christmas

We decided to do a quick catch-up post since writing posts has not been a priority lately.  We've had a few home projects to do and some fun vacation planning occupying our time.

Christmas Time in Chicago:   We spent a weekend doing the Christmas Pop-up bar thing.  We loved Chicago Athletic Club's Pop-up bar last year, but it lost a little charm this year being the first bar of the evening (crowd still sedate at 5pm and we didn't have a few cocktails yet).   Sable's Miracle was as fun and festive as we remembered and we made a new friend with the person next to us, who also got the bartender to get Dave a taste of special bourbon.  Thanks Eric!  Macy's had new window decor this year that was very cute.  Frosty's Pop-up was a great place to kill 90 minutes, but it was smaller than we expected it to be and there really wasn't anywhere to sit.   We were happy it was near a ramem place and Off Color's Mousetrap    The Virgin's Cirese rooftop bar did a horrible job of executing the theme of their pop-up.  We experienced the newish Bamboo Room within Three Dots and a Dash.   The small bar requires a separate reservation and gives you the opportunity to learn more about the special rare liquors they use.  Dave wants an ice brander.  Dinners were at The Smith (great - would be good with a group) and Prime and Provisions (meh).   Stayed at the London House.

Christmas Travels:  While back east visiting our families we added a few new breweries to our list.  In Pennsylvania we took a short trip to Rumspringa in the heart of Amish Country.  Holly's hometown now has a promising new brewery - Raney Cellars    On the way to New York we stopped at Yuengling's in Pottsville to tour America's oldest brewery.  Pottsville has a lot of unique monuments dotting the town that would be interesting to tour around.   In New York Holly had her first visit to Hudson Valley Brewery followed by a stop at Sloop Brewing which is in an old IBM facility.  Of course we visited other favorites such as Spring House, Lancaster Brewing, Rushing Duck, and Columbia Kettle Works in their Lancaster location.












That's the quick catch-up.   Our next post will still be from the Christmas timeframe, but focus on our fun day with friends in Brooklyn and at the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport.